Misogyny in healthcare: we deserve more

Did you know that more research is done on male pattern baldness than on endometriosis, a chronic and extremely painful condition that affects one in ten women?

This is partially due to the complexity of the condition, but a considerable amount of the delay is because, historically, health care has revolved around men. Women’s health has been severely stigmatized, and the hindering of large-scale research is having devastating effects.

Researchers need resources and financial support to conduct experiments and create trials and testing. And yet, more funding is going into figuring out why men are losing their hair than chronic illnesses like endometriosis. Conditions like endometriosis and PCOS only affect women, and it would be short sighted not to see the intersection.

Endometriosis is not “bad periods” or a “woman’s trouble.” It can severely affect fertility and has many other full body repercussions. And yet, over and over again, our pain is minimized and dismissed. For context, the only way to truly diagnose endometriosis is through surgery, as of the time of publication, and the process is extremely physically and financially demanding.

I use endometriosis as an example for all of women’s health because I have experienced it since I was in middle school, though it took nearly ten years to label the pain I was feeling. Countless doctors, specialists and ER visits in high school and college, and I was provided no answers. I was made to feel crazy, like my symptoms were normal or “just bad cramps.” I was put on medication after medication, masking my problems instead of solving them. Finally, after hundreds of dollars and hours were spent, I found someone who listened. That surgeon took me on as a patient and was able to give me the validation I had never gotten: my debilitating pain was real. He found my abdomen completely covered in lesions and was able to remove most of them. I cannot begin to describe the relief I felt for just being believed. Despite this, endometriosis is a life-long condition with no cure, and each day I have woken up in pain, gone to class and work in pain and continued to show up for people in my life regardless; the issue is that 10% of women shouldn’t have to live this way.

I am so fortunate to have my support system, my amazing family and friends and access to great insurance and healthcare. Many women are not as lucky as I am. The good news is that we are the future of the healthcare industry, the prospective researchers and politicians of America. We have the opportunity to assist in revolutionizing women’s health in our lifetime, to take it from an afterthought to a forefront of focus and dedication. That starts with funding, yes, but also conversation. Only when terms like “menstruation” finally cease to be taboo will women have the space to be heard.

If you ever find yourself in the position to discuss these issues, I urge you to consider the women in your life. A total of 6.5 million women in the United States alone suffer from endometriosis, and your mother, sister, cousin, friend or girlfriend could be one of them.